Zambian president Mwanawasa dies in France, aged 59

The Zambian president, Levy Mwanawasa, died in France yesterday nearly two months after suffering a stroke during an African Union conference. He was 59.

Doctors at the Percy military hospital near Paris had performed emergency surgery on Mwanawasa on Monday following a sharp deterioration in his condition. Though the operation was initially described as successful, Zambian state television broke the news of the death yesterday morning.

"Fellow countrymen, with deep sorrow and grief, I would like to inform the people of Zambia that our president Dr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa died this morning at 10.30 hours," said the vice-president, Rupiah Banda. "I also wish to inform the nation that national mourning starts today and will be for seven days." Banda will take over as acting president until elections, expected to be held within 90 days.

A former lawyer, Mwanawasa was regarded as one of the Africa's most progressive leaders. His efforts to tackle corruption helped win Zambia widespread debt relief. Under his leadership, Zambia's economy grew at 5%, helped by the buoyant copper price, while inflation dropped to its lowest level in 30 years. But Mwanawasa admitted that the benefits had not trickled down sufficiently to the poor.

Beyond Zambia, he became best known as a critic of Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, leading to strained relations between the neighbours.

Leading the tributes yesterday, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, yesterday described Mwanawasa's death as "a great loss for the African continent".

Mwanawasa first rose to political prominence as a leader of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy, which ended the single-party rule of Kenneth Kaunda in 1991. After a stint as vice-president during the 1990s, he was chosen by the then-president Frederick Chiluba to be the ruling party candidate for the 2001 election. He won a second term in 2006.